


Handle With Care

by conceptofzero



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-09
Updated: 2014-01-09
Packaged: 2018-01-08 02:13:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1127174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/conceptofzero/pseuds/conceptofzero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When PM is assigned an urgent and delicate delivery, she isn't worried. After all, she's the Parcel Mistress, and there's nothing she can't handle when it comes to making sure the mail gets what it needs to go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Handle With Care

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TobuIshi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TobuIshi/gifts).



FRAGILE. DO NOT SHAKE. DO NOT CRUSH OR COMPACT. DO NOT MUTILATE. KEEP PARCEL UPRIGHT. HANDLE WITH CARE.

The Parcel Mistress has seen to the delivery of plenty of parcels, but she’s never seen one covered in quite so many warnings. The box is wrapped up tight and covered with so many warnings that she has to carefully pick away at the COMPACT tape to reveal the address. This parcel is due for the Land of Heat and Clockwork and PM can’t figure out what they’re shipping to such a lifeless planet that needs to be handled with such care. 

“So, think you can do it? I’d usually get Handy Deliverer to do it but he’s stranded up on Frost and Frogs and who knows when they’ll get the teleportizers up and running again.” Her supervisor looks suitably concerned for such a delicate package but she doesn’t need to. PM’s handled plenty of parcels and this is just one more. Anyway, it’ll be good to prove that she’s just as good as HD, if not a little better. 

“Of course, just leave it to me.” She slides her mailbag off her shoulders and sets it on the counter. After a few seconds of quick thinking, she gestures to the bubble wrap they keep behind the counter. “Get me three meters of that please.” 

The Weary Supervisor does just that, cutting PM the wrap she needs and handing it over. With some creative wrapping and a little forethought, PM’s able to create a sort of nest for the parcel, setting it snugly into her mailbag right-side up. “Do you want anything else?”

“No, this should be good. Thanks WS.” When it’s packed, she carefully slides it back over her shoulders and settles it on her back. The parcel rests against her spine plates, the weight a nice and familiar feeling. PM really doesn’t feel like herself unless she’s got a full mailbag with her. “Any other letters for Lohac?” 

“Forget about the other stuff. Just make sure that gets there in once piece.” Supervisor picks up the barcode scanner and PM turns her wrist to her, letting her scan PM into the system. She taps away at the keys. “Okay, you’re registered to the package and you’ve got tickets to and from Lohac. The shuttle’s leaving in fifteen minutes.” 

That’s just enough time to make it to the Docks and to check in. PM grins a little and nods to WS, heading for the door. “See you later.” 

“Just get it there in one piece!” WS shouts to her as the door closes. PM just keeps walking. Though she usually likes to jog, she’s careful not to jostle the package too much. An even walking pace is better than a jog that breaks whatever this is. And it really could be nearly anything depending on who’s sending it. Whatever the return address is, it’s covered up with a FRAGILE sticker. 

As she gets closer to the Docks, she can see a mass of people. It’s kind of staggering to see them all, and to know that they’re all here because the teleportizer network is partly shut down. Shuttles can carry a lot of people, but the main flow of traffic goes through the teleportizers for a reason. Under most other circumstances, PM would wade into the mass of people and deal with being squeezed while she made her way to her shuttle, but there’s a delicate package on her back and she’s aware that it would easily get smashed in that mass of people, no matter how orderly everyone is at the moment. 

PM scans the area to see if any of the other entrances are less clogged. But as far as she can tell, every check-in bay is absolutely full of people. She checks the time, frowning as PM sees she has seven minutes before her shuttle leaves. There’s no easy way to make it through the checkpoint while keeping her parcel safe, unless…

She slides the mailbag off her back and holds it up in the air as she reaches the edges of the crowd. PM’s tall enough that this keeps the parcel well out of reach of others and safe in her hands. As she wades in deeper, the people get more and more tightly packed, until she can feel people on every side of her. PM makes her way through tight spaces, doing her best to talk above the din of the crowd as she muscles her way through it. “Excuse me, my shuttle leaves in seven minutes and I need to get this parcel on it. Pardon me! Thank you!” 

There are a few mild grumbles but people are willing to make room for her when they hear her say her shuttle’s leaving, and when they see the parcel above her heads. Finally, with just a few minutes to spare, PM reaches the gate and quickly turns her wrist to scan her barcode. The display brings up the bay her shuttle is docked in and open the entrance doors for her, letting PM slip into the scanners. She shifts back and forth on her feet as she’s scanned, then as soon as the exit doors open, she walks at a brisk pace down the long walkways. 

PM’s able to make it to the shuttle just in time, right before they shut the doors. The pilot may not be too pleased to have to scan PM’s arm and let her on, but he doesn’t stop her and that’s what matters. It’s packed in here too and PM takes the only open seat, on the outside near the front. The parcel goes on her lap since she doesn’t trust the overhead compartments, and she does her best not to take up too much space. 

It’s been a while since she traveled by shuttle and by the various soft mutterings, it’s the same for many of the other passengers. The person sitting beside her is already asleep, head pressed against the window. It’s too bad they took the window when they weren’t even going to look out of it. Still, with their head lolled back a little, she can look out the window too and see the golden city that covers Prospit slowly shrink as the shuttle silently flies away from it. 

While she waits for the ship to cross the void of space, she wonders what’s in the parcel. PM is a professional, so she feels no temptation to open it. Still, it’s fun to wonder what it contains and a good way to pass the time. Maybe it’s a delicate treasure being kept on Lohac for safekeeping, or maybe it’s part of a vital machine, or maybe it’s someone’s lunch packed with loving care. The last one makes PM smile a little and she imagines that there’s a souffle in the carefully wrapped box. As the others in the cockpit kill time with quiet conversation or shifting around, she makes up a story in her mind to explain why this souffle is so important. She settles on it being a gift for the king of Lohac’s consorts, which seems as amusing as anything. 

The shuttle shakes mid-daydream and the bag slips out of PM’s lap. She has to act fast, barely grabbing onto a strap and pulling up in time to keep it from smashing into the ground. PM reels it back into her lap, this time slipping the straps over her arm to keep it more secure. The shuttle shudders again and she winces, really hoping that this isn’t jostling the package enough to break it. 

“Hold on folks, we’ve hit some turbulence coming into Lohac.” The pilot’s voice is steady, even if the shuttle certainly isn’t. PM carefully holds the parcel against her chest, hoping that it will still be in one piece when they land. Her neighbour’s woken up and is staring out the window, face lit with an eerie red glow from the lava below them. 

As they descend towards the planet’s surface, the vibrations begin to die down, only fully stopping when they land on one of the large towers littering the planet’s surface. The final jolt as the shuttle touches the platform is a hard one and she winces a little, afraid that the small cracking sound she hears is the parcel. But when a fellow passenger groans and opens their clenched hand to reveal a smashed data key, she relaxes somewhat. 

Everyone is all too happy to depart into the oppressively hot atmosphere. PM shoulders her bag again, hoping that whever she’s carrying can stand the heat. While her uniform can sometimes make trips to the Land of Frost and Frogs a chilly one, she certainly appreciates how light and flowy it is now. Any heavier and the heat would be unbearable instead of uncomfortable. She quickly heads out of the dock, scanning her barcode on the way out and heading to the walkway that leads towards the parcel’s final destination. 

After the rush to the shuttle and the rough landing, PM’s glad that all she has to deal with is some discomfort. Lohac is probably her least favorite of the planets, if only because it lacks what the others have that she enjoys. Lofaf is gorgeous, and Lolar is also beautiful and bright, and of course she has a special place in her heart for Lowas with it’s planet wide postal system and it’s lonely sort of paths. Lohac is hot and very samey, and she’s always walking along these narrow catwalks or taking ancient elevators. It’s all very oppressive feeling and she sometimes wonders if Dersites feel more at home in the near-dark of Lohac than Prospitians ever could. 

The delivery point is further away than PM expected and she finds herself parched before long. It’s not enough to stop her from performing her duties, but it is rather annoying to feel her mouth dry out and each swallow become rougher than the last. Her joints accumulate sweat and PM honestly wonders if you ever get used to the heat or if you just get used to sweating in this place. She would ask someone if there was anyone else passing by, but the only creatures she sees along the way are the various crocodile consorts, most of which nak at her and scurry away when she comes near. It’s probably for the best - she’s heard that they’re hungry things and occasionally attempt to make a meal of carapacians they catch. Luckily you can easily outpace them if you just keep walking briskly and none of them seem too interested in PM today. 

About halfway there, she finally comes across a small rest area where a few other tired looking carapacians are. It’s a Dersite run pit-stop but nobody blinks an eye as PM steps in and heads for the water fountain. She puts down a few boondollars as a show of good faith and drinks greedily from the fountain until she doesn’t feel so parched. 

“You want some bottled water?” The Dersite woman running the shop asks, leaning on the counter. There’s a crocodile beside her and it naks softly, barely able to peer over the top. “$10 boonbucks a bottle.” 

That’s borderline unreasonable but PM nods all the same, putting down the cash and taking the bottle in exchange. The water is warm but some water is better than none. PM takes another pull from the water fountain, splashing a little water on her neck and face. “Thanks.” 

The woman mm’hmms, content to stay behind her counter. PM’s rather glad. While she’s been to Derse enough times with deliveries to understand Dersites aren’t all monsters, she still never feels entirely comfortable around them and she knows the feeling is mutual. PM’s glad to leave with her water and her parcel, hitting the high metal walkways and continuing on her way. 

She reaches her destination with a finger of water left in her bottle. The factor is large and loud, and PM steps onto the elevator downward, silently marveling at the large metal gears that wind as she descends. It’s so much hotter down here when she’s this close to the surface of the lava and she moves as quickly as she dares, the grating underfoot hot enough to be felt through the shell. There are half a dozen security checks she passes through and it’s clear she’s been expected from the way they quickly wave her through. 

At the last one, a woman comes out to meet her, offering PM a hand. She looks tired but relieved. “Relentless Engineer. Do you have the parcel?”

“Right here.” PM sets her mailbag down and pulls the package out, carefully unwrapping it from it’s bubblewrap nest. RE slices it open right in from of PM, pulling out a delicate and complicated looking part to examine it. PM holds her breath, waiting for the all-okay. Even though it was a somewhat rough ride, it’s come out alright, as evident from the way RE’s shoulders slump with relief. “Can I help with anything else?”

“No, this is fine.” She grins, placing it back in its box. After a moment of thinking, RE hands it back to PM. “Actually can you carry that for me? I need a pair of steady hands.”

“Oh, sure.” PM doesn’t usually do this, but since she’s here, she might as well. She follows RD into the heart of the factory, past dozens of different machines, all heavy and wheezing or clicking and whirring away. The machine the part is for is a level up in the factor, and PM watches with interest as RE opens it up and fishes out a broken version of the same part PM’s carrying. When RE’s ready, she hands it to her and watches RE carefully snap it in place. Curiosity gets the better of her and she asks the question she usually doesn’t, since if it was a secret, she suspects the security guards wouldn’t have let RE bring her here. “What is this?” 

“Physical Matter Transference Assembler Master Control.” RE snaps the machine back together and wipes at her neck joints with a handkerchief tucked into the pocket of her uniform. “It’s what makes the transporalizers work, and why you were stuck taking a shuttle out here. You want to give it a try? I mean, after we send the testers first to make sure it’s reassembling properly?” 

“Oh! Of course!” PM will be all too happy to take a transportalizer back to Prospit over another long walk back to Lohac’s dock. It’s also a chance to watch them test it, which is something she’s never seen.

“Okay, just follow me!” RE takes them over to a nearby transporalizer, one that’s hooked up to a machine. PM grabs a seat and finishes off the last of her water, watching as RE picks up what looks like a three-dimensional puzzle and sets it on the pad. She hits a button on the console and the thing disappears in a flash. Another item appears in its place a few minutes later. It looks sort of like the thing that was sent through, though the careful interlocked bits and rings are scattered in a different combination. RE hums to herself, punching at the buttons. She drags the item off and puts a new one on, and this goes on for a good fifteen minutes as the items come back through with fewer and fewer things gone wrong until they come back perfect at least four times in a row. Only then does RE glance up from the console, raising her eyebrows. “You want to give it a try? It should be working perfectly now.” 

“Should be?” PM points out, not entirely liking the phasing. It just makes RE grin bigger. PM shrugs and stands up. “Well, if it’s working-”

“It is. I wouldn’t suggest it if I wasn’t sure. The paperwork we have to fill out if something goes wrong is as high as I am.” RE isn’t all that tall, but that’s still a lot of paperwork. “But if you want, wait another minute and somebody will come through to our end.” 

“If it’s okay, I’ll wait.” While PM isn’t afraid of much, she’s also not eager to die either. RE seems a little disappointed but says nothing. True to her word, someone does come though a moment later, a small man who steps off the transportalizer, nods, and then steps back on. Only then does PM stand as well and walk over to it. “Thank you.”

“Sure sure. Hey thanks for getting the part to us in one piece!” The Engineer smiles and PM can’t help but smile back as she steps onto the short pedestal. In a flash, she’s standing at the main docks in Prospit. There’s still a crowd here but it’s seems friendlier now, some people even cheering when they see PM appear. She steps off the pedestal and wades through the crowd. 

She’s tired and sweaty, and she still has another four hours of work left. PM sighs and heads to her apartment to shower and change. But even though it’s been a long day so far, she still feels satisfied deep inside. This was her toughest delivery yet and she managed it well. Most importantly, she got the parcel there in one piece. 

PM doubts she’ll ever deliver anything so important again in her career and that’s fine. One moment of glory is all she could ever need.


End file.
